21st Annual Ukrainian Folk Festival
Sunday, August 26, 2012
12:00 – 8:00 P.M.

ENJOY THE FUN, FOOD, MUSIC, DANCING AND ARTS AND CRAFTS
VISIT VENDORS GROVE

Exciting, spectacular, dazzling, breathtaking, exhilarating, spirited, soulful, enchanting, captivating, and intriguing – modest words which describe but by no means capture the essence of Ukrainian folk art, music, and dance. From the rich color and deep symbolism of the delicate “pysanka” (Ukrainian Easter Egg) to the thunderous, climatic, power, rhythm and strength of “HOPAK” – the world’s most exciting ethnic dance - and every brilliant “Kolomiyka” (polka) and soulful folk song in between, we invite you to experience the 21st Annual Ukrainian Folk Festival, celebrating the anniversary of our ancestral homeland’s independence. This year’s extravaganza will take place on Sunday, August 26, 2012, beginning at 12:00 Noon at the Ukrainian American Sport Center - Tryzub (www.tryzub.org) located at County Line and Lower State Roads, Horsham, PA.

 

PROGRAM:

12:00 p.m. – festival begins; concessions begin.                       
1:30 PM – 4:30 PM – Gala Festival Stage Show
                       
4:30 PM – 8:00 PM – Public Social Dance (“Zabva”)
Vox Ethnica Orchestra – traditional, modern, ballroom and Polka

FESTIVAL STAGE SHOW FEATURES:

• The Yatran Ukrainian Dance and Music Project
  
  Approximately 40 professional dancers and musicians from Kirovohrad, Ukraine are part of this most exciting project. Their thrilling, indeed stunning, stage performance recasts the program which the Yatran Ukrainian National Dance Company from their home city featured during their renowned 1978 USA tour. Realizing the powerful “nationalistic” wave of emotional and spiritual interaction that Yatran had generated in the diaspora, the soviet authorities cut the tour short and unceremoniously disbanded the ensemble.
  
  Yatran had received rave reviews from legendary dance critic, Clive Barns, after their Radio City Music Hall performance in New York City. In collaboration with the original choreographer, Anatoliy Krivokhyza, Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble’s artistic director, Taras Lewyckyj, has recreated this stunning Yatran program and will present it on the festival stage.
  
  During their stay in America, the Yatran dancers will participate in a three-week work period with internationally acclaimed dance choreographer, Michael Morris at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY. The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage has awarded funding to Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble to commission an original work by Morris, who has been referred to as "the most important choreographer since Balanchine." His work is deeply rooted in culture and custom--seamlessly integrating elements drawn from traditions as diverse as Eastern European folk dance, classical ballet, and modern dance.  The Voloshky and Morris collaboration will explore a wider artistic range and "cross-pollinate" traditional and modern audiences.
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

• DESNA Ukrainian Dance Company of Toronto (Canada) For more than 35 years, DESNA has been dazzling audiences throughout Canada, the US and abroad with a wide repertoire of Ukrainian dances. Under the direction of Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Ensemble-trained Yuri & Luba Grekov, DESNA presents technically demanding and exhilarating dances accented by exquisite costumes and diverse music. This celebration of movement creates a vibrant spectacle for all audiences to enjoy.
  
  

DESNA’s repertoire consists of various traditional dances including Pryvit, Hutsul, Bukovynian, Kozachok and Hopak. However, it is the group’s strong belief that the key to celebrating and broadening tradition lies in contrasting it with new and different styles of dance. This led to the creation of a series of new dances including the Canadian Country Dance, Gypsy, Miners, and various comedic numbers. www.Desna.ca

• Violinist Innesa Tymochko Dekajlo (Lviv, Ukraine) starting at the age of six, Innesa has studied violin with some of Europe’s greatest masters. She has fused the beauty, power and soul of traditional Ukrainian folk music with the classical string instrument - the violin. Her fresh, inventive style has gained critical acclaim from both classical and traditional music critics. Innesa has toured throughout Europe and North America. www.innesa.com.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• VOX ETHNICA BAND (New York City) Its unique compositional approach to music has received wide recognition in the USA, Canada and Europe; its style of transforming East European folk music is influential. Vox Ethnica is the only band that performs all manner of Eastern European Folk and Pop music (Ukrainian, Lemko, Rusyn,  Czech, Slovak, and Polish, Rusyn, Ukrainian) set to unique modern arrangements. It also carries a wide, varied and rich repertoire of American and British music – from the twenties to contemporary top hits.
  
  

Enjoy Vox Ethnica both on stage and as your band for social dancing at the festival. www.voxethnika.com
           

MORE ENTERTAINERS TO BE ANNOUNCED – visit again

Reports and Gallery - Last Year’s Festival

Thursday, 25 August, 2011
The Ukrainian Community of Pennsylvania Celebrates Ukraine’s Independence Day
By: Zorislav Baydyuk, correspondent, Voice of America

They started celebrating Ukraine’s Independence Day at the Ukrainian American Sport Center “Tryzub”, from the time of its first anniversary. Full of pride in their ancestral homeland, local Ukrainians desire not only to celebrate, but also to showcase and to share their rich culture to and with the broader American community. Tryzub Vice President Eugene A. Luciw declared: “At this festival, we demonstrate our folk art; we show who we are: our language, our music and our dance. And America watches, learns and enjoys.”
Ukrainian immigrants created The Ukrainian American Sport Center – Tryzub in 1950. In the 1960’s they organized a professional soccer team, named it the “Ukrainian Nationals” and proceeded to win the American league championship six times. They captured the coveted US Open Cup four times.

With the demise of the professional soccer in the United States, Tryzub shifted its focus to amateur sports. Its youth soccer teams [also named “Ukrainian Nationals” or “Tryzub”] consistently win championships at various levels. The Center also organizes grand soccer tournaments at its facility, the property for which it acquired and developed in the Philadelphia suburbs in the 1970’s. As described by Tryzub President Jaroslaw Kozak, Tryzub members, with btheir own hands, converted 40 acres of farm land into a sport center: “This is all based on voluntary labor. We collected charitable donations from our Philadelphia area Ukrainians. Otherwise, we would not have been able to accomplish this. Our people understood the need and donated monies and labor, so that we could acquire the land and develop it.”

“Tryzubivka” rapidly became a center of Ukrainian life in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They celebrate Ukraine’s independence with special emotion and vigor. The community includes more than just a few persons that participated directly in the struggles and campaigns for national freedom. Among them is a former member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (“UPA”): “Whatever else may be going on in Ukraine that we might not desire, victory will be ours, because the Ukrainian spirit lives.”

A frequent guest at the annual Ukrainian Independence Day festival is the pride and joy of the Philadelphia Ukrainian community, the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. This immensely popular dance troupe has been showcasing Ukrainian culture in the United States for nearly, forty years. “Ninety percent of our concerts are in front of an American audience. Americans want to understand this art form and the character of the Ukrainian soul that it represents”, said Taras Lewyckyj, the ensembles artistic director.

Proceeds from the folk festival in honor of Ukraine’s independence at Tryzubivka benefit the needs of the Center and its sports and cultural programming.

Syzokryli Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. Photo by Christine Syzonenko

Emily Knihnicky of Voloshky performs during the Ukrainian Gypsy Dance
Photo by Carl Kosola/Intelligencer-Record newspaper.

Voloshky premieres its new Hutsul Dance. Photo by Christine Syzonenko

Violinist Innesa Tymochko Dekajlo playing the violin

Oleksij Kerekesha and Fata Morgana excite at the Orange Revolution

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Photos courtesy of Christine Syzonenko

Festival 2010 photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7421005@N06/sets/72157624660669439/with/4917823475/

Festival 2009 photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7421005@N06/sets/72157622141049328/

Festival 2008 photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7421005@N06/sets/72157606951982441/
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READ ABOUT AND SEE PHOTOS OF LAST YEAR'S FESTIVAL

 

Heritage thrives at Ukrainian festival
By: GARY WECKSELBLATT
Aug 23, 2010

Americans celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with food and fireworks.

For Ukrainian-Americans, their independence is highlighted by food, colorful costumes and fast-paced acrobatic dancing.

And that was on display, though somewhat muted by the rain, during Sunday's 19th annual Ukrainian Folk Festival at the Tryzub Ukrainian American Sport Center in Horsham. Read full article »

 

UKRAINIAN-AMERICAN SPORT CENTER "TRYZUB"
County Line & Lower State Roads
Horsham, PA 19044
www.tryzub.org

Exciting, spectacular, dazzling, breathtaking, exhilarating, spirited, soulful, enchanting, captivating, and intriguing – modest words which describe but by no means capture the essence of Ukrainian folk art, music, and dance.  From the rich color and deep symbolism of the delicate “pysanka” (Ukrainian Easter Egg) to the thunderous, climatic, power, rhythm and strength of “HOPAK” – the world’s most exciting ethnic dance - and every brilliant “Kolomiyka” (polka) and soulful folk song in between, we invite you to experience the 19th Annual Ukrainian Folk Festival, celebrating the anniversary of our ancestral homeland’s independence.  This year’s extravaganza will take place on Sunday, August 21, 2011, beginning at 12:00 Noon at the Ukrainian American Sport Center - Tryzub (www.tryzub.org) located at County Line and Lower State Roads, Horsham, PA.